Road trip : Athirappilly & Valparai

This is a discussion on Road trip : Athirappilly & Valparai within Travelogues, part of the Buckle Up category; Originally Posted by Paramesh
Dude how did you get that license plate number (0000)?
Is it legal.. just curious to ...

Was reading this as we also went there very recently and suddenly I find myself staring at my own photo

That's me in that greenish shirt with the rest of the family slightly behind. I guess we were on our way back when you captured this.

Small world!

-Shiva

Haha
I saw a lot of cars with T-BHP stickers at parking area (1 Estilo, 1 Scorpio, 1 Polo, 1 Micra and a few more I don't remember) I was in a assumption that either me or my car will be a part of someone't thread.

Planned for 3 days and 2 nights (night stay at Athirapally and Valparai) covering as much as possible on the way.

Start from home town, reach Athirapally (via Thrissur) head to Valparai, return to Coimbatore (via Pollachi)

Nice pics, and you have captured pretty much everything on that route. Also, found some more stuff from your list, to plan for our next trip!

We (5 friends, no family) did a similar trip on 28th and 29th Dec.
Calicut->Thrissur->Athirapally->Vazhachal->Sholayar->Valparai->Aliyar.
Stayed at Valparai Greenland hotel, and returned the same route to experience the forest in the late evening. It was a 630km drive over two days.

Evening drive (5PM-7PM) through the forest was fruitful, saw elephants near thottapura view point, just inside the roadside bushes, bisons near vazhachal, and couple of snakes crossing the road.

It was a fantastic experience, and will do this route again!

We also took a bus from valparai to periya kallar, which goes through a forest range to a remote village. About 1 hour trip, covering about 16 km. We took the bus in the morning (it was empty, and like a chartered trip for 5 of us!), and had breakfast at a small shop near the forest border (along with bus crew). The conductor explained us everything along the way. The roads were non existent, and was almost like a jeep route. Wondering how the bus holds up without falling apart. Almost every part was shaking to the limits!

Not to hijack your superb thread, but still thought of sharing some random shots...
- Valparai hairpin bends. There were 40 of them, could frame a few
- Tea plantations at sunset
- Our safari coach from valparai to periya kallar
- The forest restaurant. The breakfast with idli, sambar, chatni and omlet was delicious!
- Thottapura view point. Repeated again, sorry about that .

Not to hijack your superb thread, but still thought of sharing some random shots...

Thanks for the compliments and that's a nice set of snaps from you.
I wish I should have either tried Periya Kallar or Chinna kallar, hopping to cover during our next trip. Since I have to manage both driving and clicking the snaps, I couldn't cover everything this time.

I wish I should have either tried Periya Kallar or Chinna kallar, hopping to cover during our next trip. Since I have to manage both driving and clicking the snaps, I couldn't cover everything this time.

There was a forest check post on the way, so not sure if they ask for some special permission. I did see a Innova along that route, but no other vehicles.
Given the road conditions, I strongly suggest taking the bus to periya kallar.

There's a hotel in the building abutting the lodge's street and Valparai's main road. They serve tasty food cooked on traditional wood fires.

We had stayed in the same lodgings 2 years back. The floor above the parking was under construction even then. Their only advantage is the location although their rooms have much scope for improvement.

Nice pics, and you have captured pretty much everything on that route. Also, found some more stuff from your list, to plan for our next trip!

We (5 friends, no family) did a similar trip on 28th and 29th Dec.
Calicut->Thrissur->Athirapally->Vazhachal->Sholayar->Valparai->Aliyar.
Stayed at Valparai Greenland hotel, and returned the same route to experience the forest in the late evening. It was a 630km drive over two days.

Evening drive (5PM-7PM) through the forest was fruitful, saw elephants near thottapura view point, just inside the roadside bushes, bisons near vazhachal, and couple of snakes crossing the road.

It was a fantastic experience, and will do this route again!

We also took a bus from valparai to periya kallar, which goes through a forest range to a remote village. About 1 hour trip, covering about 16 km. We took the bus in the morning (it was empty, and like a chartered trip for 5 of us!), and had breakfast at a small shop near the forest border (along with bus crew). The conductor explained us everything along the way. The roads were non existent, and was almost like a jeep route. Wondering how the bus holds up without falling apart. Almost every part was shaking to the limits!

Not to hijack your superb thread, but still thought of sharing some random shots...
- Valparai hairpin bends. There were 40 of them, could frame a few
- Tea plantations at sunset
- Our safari coach from valparai to periya kallar
- The forest restaurant. The breakfast with idli, sambar, chatni and omlet was delicious!
- Thottapura view point. Repeated again, sorry about that .

My friends had clicked some, but nothing interesting as such from a photography perspective. Will see if I can get some pics and post here. The journey was great! Otherwise it was a hilly forest area, but not as lush or dense as the thottapura belt. There is one more hill near periya kallar, from where we can get a good view of the surroundings. We didn't have time to roam around, since we wanted to take the same bus back and drive down to aliyar dam. Next time we will explore more.

The conductor also said that one of the later trips goes 2-3 more kilometers inside and up the hill, but I didn't follow the name of the place. Maybe another side of periya kallar.

One more input - we did see a diversion towards chinna kallar en-route (after entering the forest), and I think there is a dam there. Not sure if its in walkable distance. Since all these were completely unplanned, also due to lack of time we couldn't explore more.